The significant inscription found on an old key "If I rest,
I rust" would be an excellent motto for those who are
afflicted with the slightest taint of idleness.
Even the most industrious might adopt it with advantage to serve
as a reminder that, if one allows his faculties to rest,
like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show si
gns of rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work required of them.
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept
by great men must keep their facuties polished by
constant use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge,
the gate that guard the entrances to the
professions, to science, art, literature, agriculture --- every department of human endeavor.
Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury of achievement.
If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a
quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation,
he would never have become a famous geologist. The
celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone,
would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have
found the key to science of mathematics,
if he had given his spare moments to idleness. Had the little Scotch lad,
Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of
calculating the
position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer.
Labor vanquishes all --- not inconstant, spasmodic,
or ill-directed labor, but faithful, unremitting, daily effort
toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is
the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the
price of noble and enduring success.
We often close ourselves off when traumatic events
happen in our lives; instead of letting the world soften us, we
let it drive us deeper into ourselves.
We try to deflect the hurt and pain by pretending it doesn’t exist, but
although we can try this all we want, in the end, we can’t hide from ourselves.
We need to learn to open our
hearts to the potentials of life and let the world soften us.
Whenever a painful situation arises in your life,
try to embrace it instead of running away or trying to mask the
hurt. When the sadness strikes, take a deep breath and lean
into it. When we run away from sadness that’s
unfolding in our lives, it gets stronger and more real.
We take an emotion that’s fleeting and make it a solid
event, instead of something that passes through us.